Spirit of a Ranger
by Gundam Kaiser
Summary: After the battle with Leliel, Shinji finds himself in a world unlike his own. Upon making new friends and enemies, the young boy must find and unleash his true nature. The fate of two worlds will be forever changed.
1. Not In Tokyo3 Anymore

**Spirit of a Ranger**

_Not In Tokyo-3 Anymore…_

**Disclaimer: I do not own the classic anime **_**Neon Genesis Evangelion**_**, nor do I own the Japanese-American pop culture phenomenon that is **_**Power Rangers**_**. Those are the respective property of Gainax and…. well, the other one ranges from Saban to Disney, depending on the season in question. **

Yes, it's an Evangelion/Power Rangers crossover. Mighty Morphin', to be precise. Strange as hell? Damn right.

**Summary: Shinji winds up in our world, and has to come to accept a universe that actually **_**isn't**_** out to make him suffer needlessly, and he learns to unleash the potential that had always lain dormant within himself.**

**Rating: T for now, may raise to M later.**

**Pairing: Shinji/Kat, other stuff in the background.**

**Key:**

"I'm talking to someone."

'If there's only one quote-mark, then I am (gasp) quoting someone.'

"If underlined, I'm talking to someone or myself in Japanese."

'_And now I am thinking to myself.'_

"**And bold, within the story, is reserved for Zordon and/or the Angels, 'cause they're boss."**

**As for Billy being able to speak Japanese, well… half the good technology stuff seems to come from Japan, so let's assume he learned the language on his free time so he could get to use it more quickly or something.**

* * *

><p>Shinji had long ago resigned himself to the fact that he was going to die alone, here, inside the Twelfth Angel.<p>

Watching the last few seconds of his emergency power tick down down down, Shinji decided that he probably wouldn't even be missed. For some reason, the knowledge that he wouldn't ever trouble anyone else didn't give him the comfort he thought it would. He realized, with a start, that he wanted to be remembered, that he wanted someone – anyone – to grieve for him. But that was not only wistful, but selfish as well.

After all, only important people left enough of an impact for others to lose sleep over their passing. Asuka, his father, and others had told him often enough that he was worthless, so his death would actually be doing the world a favor, right?

Forcing himself to be content that he could at least do one useful thing in his life, he hoped that whoever replaced him would be kind enough to take care of Misato and Asuka. Since they were almost guaranteed to be more competent than he was, they would certainly do a better job of it.

It also didn't escape his notice that the moment he'd started feeling confident and tried showing some bravado, was when the damn Angel had consumed him.

Suddenly, the darkness surged, and welcoming death's embrace, Shinji closed his eyes with a smile…

…

…

…

And then opened them with a frown when his body told him that he was prone on the ground, in a grassy area, no longer submerged in LCL, and the sun was on his face.

Puzzeled, he sat up, noted that his plugsuit had somehow morphed into his normal clothes, and looking around, observed that he was apparently in some kind of park.

As Shinji got to his feet, he came to the conclusion that either the afterlife was _really_ weird, or that he hadn't even managed to die properly. Biting down on the inside of his cheek _hard_, he winced and decided that it was the latter.

Sighing, Shinji figured that he needed first and foremost to figure out where he was, and as much as he didn't want to, try to find a way back to NERV.

As soon as he reached the sidewalk, he ran into a cop.

And as the uniform, speech, and then the architecture he came to the most shocking realization yet.

'_I don't think we're in Japan anymore…'_

Forcing himself back to the present, Shinji realized that the policeman was trying to talk with him. Although listening to Asuka gave him a good enough grasp of what English (and also German) sounded like that he could identify it for what it was, he couldn't really _speak_ it at all.

Apologetically, Shinji said, "I'm sorry officer, but I can't understand what you're saying."

While the law enforcement officer didn't have a clue what the boy had said, he did realize that for the moment, they couldn't communicate with each other.

Gesturing for the boy to follow him, the uniformed man led the way to the station, where he made a phone call.

When the police officer – Lt. Stone, going by his tag and badge – saw that Shinji was still standing up, he attempted to convey that Shinji was welcome to have a seat, and offered him a soft drink.

Shinji got the gist of it, and while he did sit down, he tried to politely decline the soda.

After about ten minutes of awkward silence, a muscular young man wearing jeans and a blue t-shirt entered, asked Lt. Stone something, then turned to Shinji and said in passable Japanese, "Hello, there. My name is Billy Cranston, and I'll be interpreting between you and Lt. Stone here. What's your name?"

Looking up at the older teen, Shinji replied, "Shinji Ikari."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Shinji. Where are you from?"

"Tokyo-3."

Seemingly confused, Billy repeated, "Tokyo… _three_? In Japan?"

After Shinji nodded, Billy said, "Shinji… there's only _one_ Tokyo. There is no Tokyo-2 or -3. Do you remember what happened before you arrived in Angel Grove?"

Sighing, Shinji replied, "I was trying to fight the Twelfth Angel, when its shadow swallowed me and Unit-01 up, and then I spent the next half a day dying as the oxygen filtration and LCL heating systems gradually ran out of power, and then when I came to, my plugsuit had turned into my normal clothes somehow and I stranded in the park."

Curious and concerned, Billy then asked Shinji to explain about the Angel and Unit-01, which led to Shinji having to explain Second Impact and NERV and what little he knew about the Evangelions, and why he was both confused and incredulous that Billy apparently had never heard about Second Impact, at which point he was asked what year it was.

"That's easy, it's 2015 of course."

A grim look on his face, Billy handed him a newspaper and said, "Shinji, I think you should look at today's date."

So he did… and his jaw dropped at what he saw.

July 15, 1995.

To hell with being in another country, he'd somehow been trapped in another _time_.

As Billy relayed the gist of Shinji's story to Lt. Stone, the Eva pilot tried to wrap his mind around what was going on. He was somehow twenty years in the past. That means that none of his classmates had been born yet, and neither had he. Hell, he'd be older than anybody he knew, with the exception of Subcommander Fuyutsuki, and possibly his father.

And then, terror gripped him. Shinji knew that almost his entire story would sound completely impossible in a world prior to Second Impact. Not only that, but because he claimed to be from the future, he would likely be regarded as crazy and not only never get any help returning, but he could very well be locked away in some kind of asylum.

It was at this point that Billy said, "So since you just got here, I guess you don't have a place to stay, right?"

This was so completely different from what he'd expected that he visibly jumped and could only dumbly say, "Huh? But, but… Wait a minute… You_ believe_ me?"

Billy explained, "Of course I do. You sound like you're telling the truth as best as you understand it, and in a lot of ways, it's not really all _that_ far-fetched. Angel Grove gets monster attacks… on average a few times a week. And when the Power Rangers defeat them, they come back the size of a skyscraper, at which point the Rangers summon summon the Megazord, which is _essentially_ a robot of the same size. Compared to some of the stuff this city's seen, time travel would be relatively normal, especially under the circumstances you seem to describe. Which brings me back to my original question – you don't have a place to stay, do you?"

Shaking his head, Shinji had a vague idea of where this seemed to be going, but knew that it couldn't possibly –

"Well for the short term, you're welcome to stay at my place."

Jaw dropping comically, Shinji stuttered for a few moments, eventually getting his act together and saying things like, "But I'd just take up space," "I don't want to impose," and best of all, "Even if it were really okay, there's no way for me to repay your kindness!"

Almost knocked out of his chair by the torrent of attempts to politely decline the offer, Billy Cranston's forehead creased in concern. He knew that the Japanese were more socially reserved than Americans were, and understood that as a rule they tended more towards humility, but this was getting ridiculous.

There is a line between humility and verbally tearing oneself to pieces, and Shinji had crossed it about five seconds in.

A bit forcefully, just enough to get the younger boy's attention, Billy said, "Shinji!"

As the Eva Pilot became exceedingly quiet, Billy massaged his temples a bit and said, "Listen, it wouldn't be an imposition at all. And I actually _do_ mean that, I'm not just saying it to be nice. My family is in Europe for the summer, so until mid-August, there's actually quite a bit of space for you. Even after notifying social services, it's still going to take at least two or three weeks before they could arrange anything, during which time you're stuck. And I don't expect you to repay me, either."

The rational part of Shinji's was doing just fine, able to mostly accept pretty much everything, until that last sentence. Confused beyond belief, he asked, "But… if you don't expect anything out of me… then why? I'm a total stranger, you've never met me before today! Why are you being so nice to me?"

Now it was Billy's turn to be confused again, as he immediately replied, "Why am I…? Because it's my nature. If someone needs my help, I don't think twice about it. I'm helping you because I want to, and because you need me to. That's all there is to it."

And then it clicked inside Shinji's head. Billy was naturally that compassionate to other people, just like Shinji was.

As Billy Cranston extended the hand of friendship to Shinji Ikari, the younger teen accepted it, and although neither of them realized it at that moment, the destinies of two worlds were forever changed.

It wasn't until after they left the station that Shinji finally asked, "So er… Who or what exactly _are_ the Power Rangers?"

* * *

><p><strong>I decided that that was as good a place to end it as any. While they aren't yet on my profile, I've had a couple of other NGEPR fics on my mind as well.**

**Anyway, if you want me to continue this, then I want you to review and tell me **_**WHY**_** you like it. Or, if you think this fic is a load of crock, then tell me why you think that.**


	2. Of Complexes

**Spirit of a Ranger**

_Of Complexes_

**Disclaimer: I do not own the classic anime _Neon Genesis Evangelion_, nor do I own the Japanese-American pop culture phenomenon that is _Power Rangers_. Those are the respective property of Gainax and Saban.**

**Summary: Shinji winds up in our (read: the _Power Rangers_) world, and has to come to accept a universe that actually _isn't_ out to make him suffer needlessly, and he learns to unleash the potential that had always lain dormant within himself.**

**Rating: T for now, may raise to M later.**

**Pairing: Shinji/Kat, other stuff in the background.**

**Key:**

"I'm talking to someone."

"If underlined, I'm talking to someone or myself in Japanese."

'_And now I am thinking to myself in my native language, be it English, Japanese, or Klingon.'_

"**And bold, within the story, is reserved for Zordon and/or the Angels, 'cause they're boss."**

**Note: It's been over ten years since the last time I saw Mighty Morphin', so I don't really recall the Rangers' individual fighting styles. As a result, I'm kind of taking it into my own hands here. Now then, here's to improvising!**

**Also, the various Power Rangers will be moderately OOC as needed. Mostly with Kat, because again, I HAVEN'T SEEN AN EPISODE WITH HER IN OVER TEN DAMN YEARS! (which, on the inside, makes me cry. just a bit.)**

* * *

><p>As the two young men left the police station and headed in the general direction of Billy's house, the older boy attempted to explain the facts of life in Angel Grove. Thankfully, however, much of what he told Shinji was common knowledge, so it wouldn't be evidence of his secret identity.<p>

Of course, the very fact that it was common knowledge to begin with made it somewhat awkward to explain.

"An ancient sorceress named Rita Repulsa and her husband, Lord Zedd, want to conquer the Earth for reasons unknown. However, because much of their own power is sealed, they can't just come to Earth personally. Instead, they periodically send a small legion of birdlike monsters called Tengus, which are led by a more powerful, unique monster with its own identity. Even the Tengus are as strong enough that most normal people would get killed fighting one of them alone, but their 'commanders' are even stronger still, to the point that for normal humans to fight them, you'd need a small _army_. Thankfully, however, we have the Power Rangers to protect us – a team of six heroes who battle against Rita and Zedd's forces to protect the Earth. Sometimes, though, and a bit more often, they merely send Tengus without a commander."

Shinji, having been paying attention, then asked, "Okay, I guess some of that makes sense, and it's not that I'm ungrateful for their protection, but does anyone know why the Power Rangers are strong enough to save the world in the first place?"

Having somewhat expected this, Billy replied, "Well, nobody really knows, and the Power Rangers themselves don't exactly hold press conferences. There are a lot of theories about that. Some say they're aliens. Some say they're humans who are abnormally powerful due to some odd genetic difference, or perhaps exposure to some form of radiation. The current prevailing theory is that they're the reincarnations – or perhaps even resurrected forms – of various heroes of legend. You know, people like King Arthur, Roland, Seigfried, Hercules, Joan of Arc, Maiden Marian… Or _do_ you know about them, since…"

Tilting his head a bit, Shinji replied, "Yes, some of those names sound a little familiar. I'm nowhere near as knowledgable about Western culture as Asuka or Misato, but I have at least heard of King Arthur, Seigfried, Hercules, and Maiden Marian. Um…. They were a legendary Celtic king, a German knight, a Greek demigod, and a British bandit, right?"

Nodding, Billy said, "I'd say that Seigfried was as more of a warrior-king than a mere knight, and Maiden Marian was a bandit to the rich and philanthropist to the poor, but petty details aside… affirmative."

At this point, however, the two stopped immediately as they heard screams in the distance, coming from the direction of the business district. Muttering something under his breath in English, Billy was about to say something when the boys spied an attractive young woman in a light pink shirt and black shorts running towards them, shouting something that Shinji couldn't understand.

As the blonde quickly intercepted the duo, she and Billy rapidly conversed in English, Shinji's name being thrown about once or twice. After a moment or two, Billy handed Kat something before he turned back to Shinji and said, "Shinji, this is my friend Katherine Hillard, or Kat for short. She'll take you the rest of the way to my place – I need to try and contact the Rangers."

Confused a bit, Shinji idly wondered why _Billy_ in particular would know how to contact the Rangers and Kat wouldn't, but kept silent. The Eva pilot was beginning to think of the other boy as a friend, and didn't want to risk ruining it by not doing as he was told.

Kat gave Shinji a smile that, for some reason, noticeably accelerated his heartrate a bit – even more than the rare occasion that Asuka or Rei did – before urgently pulling him along behind her. Pushing himself as hard as possible to keep up with her, Shinji tried very, very, _very_ hard not to watch her perpetually moving rear.

Given the fact that she had to be in front for navigation, and she was maybe half a foot taller than he was, and Shinji's natural tendency to look towards the ground at all times so as not to make eye contact – meaning that it was constantly in his natural line of sight… and, a very small part of his mind noted, the fact that it was _nice to look at_… made _not_ looking very, very, _very_ difficult. In fact, the only thing harder than looking away was trying not to think about how soft and enticing it looked…

Catching himself with a blush that could melt an entire planet, Shinji finally forced himself to go against hormones and habits at _at the same time_, tilting his head back so that he was now facing directly forward, in-between her shoulder blades. And, while that area was just as attractive as the rest of her body, it was nowhere nearly as distracting as -

'_GOD DAMN IT, why does this always happen to _me_? It was bad enough back home, but is _THIS_ universe actively trying to make me a pervert too?'_

Fortunately, however, the pair made it to their destination without incident, and Shinji thankfully experienced no further distractions as, for the time being, his hormones left him alone.

* * *

><p>As Billy Cranston arrived at the scene of the monster attack, he noted that two of his friends had also shown up at the same time. Observing that the threat was merely a half dozen Tengus, the three of them were more than enough as it was.<p>

Nodding to each other, Billy, Aisha, and Tommy all reached into their back pockes and retrieved what appeared to be large belt buckles, with golden engraved coins in the center of them. As one, the three teenagers shouted, "IT'S MORPHIN' TIME!"

"Blue Ranger Power – Wolf!"

"Yellow Ranger Power – Bear!"

"White Ranger Power – Falcon!"

With these invocations, Billy, Aisha, and Tommy raised their Power Coins to the sky, and were bathed in light before transforming into the Blue, Yellow, and White Power Rangers respectively.

Tommy said, "All right guys, let's go ahead and wrap this up! Weapons!"

Nodding, Billy and Aisha shouted "Right!"

Another flash of light, and the three Rangers each now were armed with their weapons of choice – Billy, a spear; Aisha, a pair of daggers; and Tommy, a sabre.

Aisha kept low to the ground, rapidly weaving in and out of two Tengus' attacks, never missing an opportunity to slash at their joints and weak spots with her Power Daggers. Evading and slicing quickly and cleanly, Aisha was the swiftest of the Rangers.

Tommy charged at his opponents and cut them to pieces quickly and brutally. His White Ranger powers were more advanced than the other Rangers', and as a result of that, he was stronger, faster, and tougher than any one of the others. A veritable storm of slashes, his opponents were barely even able to _try_ to block or evade, and could only wait as Tommy's relentless assault withered their pitiful defenses and brought about their doom, roaring his signature battle cries all the way.

Billy separated his Power Lance into two, using them as modified clubs on the head of one Tengu to stun it, before then reversing his grip and stabbing it from both sides of its head. Then, spinning on his heel, the Blue Ranger used the half-trident in one hand to deflect his second opponent's attack, before using his other hand to knock it on its backside. Then, before the Tengu had a chance to get back up, Billy re-combined his weapons into the Power Lance and leapt high into the air. Doing a forward flip that would have left Kimberly impressed, Billy plunged back to earth and impaled the Tengu in the chest with all his strength.

Utterly destroyed, Rita's minions disintegrated into broken chunks of clay, which themselves crumbled into dust.

The three Rangers patting themselves on the back, Tommy said, "All right you guys, that was excellent work. Since that's probably all Rita and Zedd are going to send us today, let's head on back to the juice bar – everything's on me!"

While Aisha enthusiastically agreed, Billy said, "Thanks, but I need to head back home. I met a new friend today, a kid from Japan, and I said I'd help show him around. Right now Kat's taking care of him, but our power morphers only translate one-way, and I'm pretty much the only person in Angel Grove who can speak fluent Japanese."

Nodding, Tommy de-morphed as he said, "All right, that's cool. You plan on bringing him by the Youth Center tomorrow?"

Shrugging, Billy de-morphed as he replied, "I can, but I'd rather get him more used to the town first. He's pretty shy, and doesn't really have much for self-esteem."

Aisha de-morphed as she offered, "Well, a friend of yours is a friend of ours. Can't wait to meet him!"

With these parting words, the three Rangers parted ways – Tommy and Aisha heading to the Youth Center, and Billy walking back towards his humble home.

* * *

><p>Shortly after arriving at Billy's house, Kat and Shinji had gone ahead and entered, with Billy having lent Kat his keys.<p>

As they entered and prepared to wait, Kat tried to think of something to pass the time until Billy had finished with the monsters and returned. Whenever Tengu attacked without a leader monster, the Rangers alternated weekly on who would put a stop to them.

She _had_ been just a bit closer than Billy, but as Kat had oh so _stupidly_ forgotten to bring her Power Morpher with her on that day, she'd had to go and find Billy. Granted, it was his, Aisha, and Tommy's shift anyway, but she should've been ready.

Normally, she would've tried to strike up a conversation, but for some reason, the communicators only translated one-way – that is to say, the Pink Ranger could understand any language someone spoke to her with, but her communicator wouldn't allow her to translate what _she_ was saying. Which was _extremely_ frustrating. _'Note to self: see if Billy can fix that problem, and then give a two-way translator to Shinji.'_

About the time she found a checkerboard, she heard Shinji say something. "You know, Katherine-san…. you're not like the other girls I've met. I don't know why, but for some reason, you're nice, and kind, and you're not making fun of me, and you're… really beautiful, too."

Turning around to face something, Kat saw that Shinji was looking rather intently at the ground twiddling his fingers, but with quite the blush on his face. Given that she wasn't supposed to be able to understand him, the Pink Ranger couldn't try to give him much of a response at all, much less a positive one. And judging by the way he'd said it, positive response was what he needed more than anything else.

However, she mused, some things carried across languages. So after grabbing the checkerboard, she artfully hid it behind her back and turned to face him. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Kat couldn't help but let out a girlish _squee_ at how _adorable_ he looked at that moment. Still, she'd heard about his type. The girl had to come on to him slowly, gradually, bring him out of his shell or else risk scaring him off.

Wondering for a moment how to snap him back to reality, she decided on the direct approach. Remembering what she'd looked up on the internet about Japanese honorifics, she got his attention simply by using his name. "Shinji-kun."

As the cute young man visibly jumped at the mention of his name, she couldn't help but giggle a bit inside her mind. _'I know he's a bit younger than I am, but he's just so damn _handsome_ and… and… and _ADORABLE_! I just want to hug him and cuddle and make him feel better! … Oh dear, PLEASE tell me I'm not developing some kind of complex…'_

Forcing herself back to the present, Kat observed that Shinji was starting to look a bit concerned. Producing the board from behind her back so that her new acquaintance – she tried _very_ hard not to acknowledge him as a crush – could see it, she put on a kind smile and asked, "Checkers?"

The young boy was frozen for a moment or two in total shock. Of course he knew how to play Checkers, but that wasn't it. This beautiful woman, who so far had been nice and hadn't done anything to overtly tease or make fun of him for being the only person in an American city who didn't speak English… was giving him an honest smile that, unlike any of Asuka's, or Rei's, or even the vast majority of Misato's, reached her eyes. But it wasn't just that, Kat was practically smiling at him with her _entire_ _body_, as though the idea of spending time with him actually _appealed_ to her. No one had directed that kind of happiness and companionship at him since his mother died. Ever.

So, for the time in ages, he allowed himself to actually _hope_, and smiled in return as he nodded.

And while Kat was a good enough actress not to let it show in her eyes, she could see the frailty in his smile. A pain and despair in his eyes that showed even through that smile, and to see such a handsome young man with so broken a smile as this broke her heart on some level. Kat was fairly good at reading people, and Shinji in particular was easy to read. And she saw a young man who had, somehow, endured so much pain and loneliness that he had nearly forgotten how to smile.

And right there, as she set up the checkerboard, Katherine Hillard swore to herself that she was going to talk with her fellow Rangers about this, that this nearly broken boy would never be alone again for as long as she had the chance to do something about it, and that when she finds out whoever did this to him, there _will_ be a can of ass-whooping opened. _Thoroughly_.

Forcing herself back into reality, however, she merely placed the checkers on the appropriate squares, and the pair began to play a game.

Just after Kat and Shinji had finished the game – Kat allowing Shinji to win by the slimmest of margins in an attempt to bolster his confidence, if only a little – Billy had returned with something of a smile as he said in Japanese, "Hey you two, looks like you're having a good time. I was planning to make some dinner soon. I know you just met her, but would you mind it if Kat stayed with us?"

Eyes widening at the prospect that he could be in the presence of this… this… this angel, no, this _goddess_ a bit longer, Shinji immediately stood up and replied, "Of course I don't mind! It's your house anyway, and I still owe you both a lot, so, erm… where's the kitchen? I know I'm not really good at anything, but I'm a half-decent cook."

Kat was interested to know that he could cook – after all, she couldn't exactly ask Shinji about himself until either he got a translator or one of them learned the other's language – but wasn't about to making him do anything he didn't want to. However, after seeing a light of enthusiasm that had only just gotten there in the last few minutes, she decided to just let him cook if he wanted to.

Billy let him and went with Shinji to help identify ingredients, leaving Kat to make the table in an effort to make herself useful. After all, friends help each other with whatever comes up and without hesitation.

After about fifteen minutes, she noticed a smell coming from the kitchen that got her mouth watering. _'If whatever he's cooking tastes half as good as it smells, I might have to kiss him on the spot… DAMNIT, there's that stupid complex again… Note to self: find out Shinji's age. Hopefully, he's at least a bit older than he looks.'_

Twenty minutes after that, Shinji and Billy arrived back in the dining room, and Billy said, "All I did was translate which ingredients were which for him, and he took care of the preparation, cooking, everything."

And upon the table sat a salmon dish that was the single most delectable course Kat had ever lain eyes upon. And as the three sat to eat, Kat took a tentative bite of her portion and nearly fainted at the taste of heaven in her mouth. _'DAMN, I swear I almost passed out from how GOOD this is! By God, Shinji, I plan to be your wife! … _AFTER_ I know you're old enough that it won't be weird.'_

Dinner continued in silence, and after that, Billy showed Shinji the various bedrooms, and asked him where he'd like to stay.

And, for the umpteenth time that day, Shinji was floored. Time after time, these complete strangers had – from his perspective – done the impossible: they appeared to genuinely like Shinji and, again from his perspective, going _beyond the impossible_, GAVE HIM A CHOICE.

He was about to take the smallest room, but then Billy said that it was his own room, and that all the other rooms were the same size. Once Shinji was persuaded to try and get some sleep, Billy promised to show him around Angel Grove the next day.

The two teenagers had been so friendly with Shinji that he actually (almost) felt comfortable trusting them. After hearing that the older teenagers were going to meet up with some friends for a while, Shinji normally would've stayed up until Billy came back, but was too exhausted from the repeated shocks that day to even try.

For the first time in at least ten years, the dreams of Shinji Ikari were pleasant.

Once outside, Billy and Kat activated their communicators and contacted the other Rangers.

"Guys, about that new friend of mine? We need to meet up at the Command Center and have a little talk about him."

* * *

><p><strong>THE PLOT THICKENS! Is Shinji finally beginning to have a sense of self-worth? Is Kat going shotacon for Shinji (even though it's only a three year difference, if that)? What precisely will the Rangers' conversation about Shinji concern?<strong>

**FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON MIGHTY MORPHIN' POWER RAN- **

**Hang on a sec…**

**NEXT NEON GENESIS EVANGELION, WITH MORE FANSERVI-**

**No, wait, that's not right either…**

**ON THE NEXT CHAPTER OF SPIRIT OF A RANGER!**

"**A new day is rising!"**

**Earth-E is the _Evangelion_ universe, and Earth-PR is the _Power Rangers_ world, at least for the purposes of this fanfic. Also, for the purposes of the upcoming omake, our world is Earth-RL (Real Life).**

Omake:

'_GOD DAMN IT, why does this always happen to _me_? It was bad enough back home, but is _THIS_ universe actively trying to make me a pervert too?'_

A world away, on Earth-RL, countless young men – and a few young women – sat at their computer screens, shouting, "DAMN YOU SHINJI, YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO IGNORE THE FANSERVICE!"


	3. The Talk

**Spirit of a Ranger**

_The Talk_

**Summary: Shinji winds up in our (read: the _Power Rangers_) world, and has to come to accept a universe that actually _isn't_ out to make him suffer needlessly, and he learns to unleash the potential that had always lain dormant within himself.**

**Rating: T for now, may raise to M later.**

**Pairing: Shinji/Kat, other stuff in the background.**

**Key:**

"I'm talking to someone."

"If underlined, I'm talking to someone or myself in Japanese."

'_And now I am thinking to myself in my native language, be it English, Japanese, or Klingon.'_

"**And bold, within the story, is reserved for Zordon and/or the Angels, 'cause they're boss."**

* * *

><p>Once outside, Billy and Kat activated their communicators and contacted the other Rangers.<p>

"Guys, about that new friend of mine? We need to meet up at the Command Center and have a little talk about him."

Tommy asked, "Why, do you think he might be some kind of threat?"

Billy shook his head and replied, "Inversely, we suspect that he's a _victim_. And while I'm not pleased telling a secret that was confided in me, the rest of you – and Zordon and Alpha Five – need to know."

With that, the duo activated the Transporter and headed to the Command Center.

Billy and Kat were enveloped in (respectively) blue and pink electrical fields, which rapidly ascended to the air as it was drawn to the Command Center, where the energy fields dissipated – as did four others: red, yellow, white, and black.

Tommy asked, "So what's up?"

Billy said, "It's about Shinji, the adolescent I was talking about earlier. He's from the future of an alternate universe in which Rita and Zedd never appeared, and there were never any Power Rangers. But, in his world, there was a nearly apocalyptic event in the year 2000, or perhaps 2001. However, in his time – 2015, to be precise – he claims that his Earth is plagued by attacks from gigantic monsters called 'Angels'. Standing against them and in defense of mankind is an organization called NERV, which has created equally enormous robots called 'Evangelions'. These Evangelions can apparently only be piloted by children – Shinji remarked that including himself, there are only three Evangelion pilots, all of them fourteen years old."

Kat said, "Well, I didn't get all the info about the world he comes from, but I get the impression that Shinji's also an abuse victim. I may not be a professional, but I know enough psychology to understand that he's got some serious confidence issues."

Ignoring the bit about the alternate universe for the moment, Adam asked, "Really? Like what?"

Kat replied, "He says that he's not good for anything at all other than being a half-decent cook, and when he made dinner, I almost… well… let's just say it was the best thing I've ever had, because going any detail further than that would be too much information."

Eyes widening, Aisha asked, "_That_ good?"

Grinning, Kat answered, "Imagine the single most delicious meal you've ever had in your entire life. Shinji can make it _over ten times better_."

Rocky, the Red Ranger, asked, "That's all well and good, but… Billy, are you _sure_ this friend of yours didn't hit his head on something? Because that story sounds like something out of a giant robot anime gone horribly wrong."

Raising an eyebrow, Adam asked, "Watch a lot of giant robot shows, do you?"

Getting just a bit defensive, he replied, "Not a lot! Just _Transformers_, _G Gundam_ and _GaoGaiGar_… and _GunBuster_. All of which are much more idealistic than the mental image you've painted for us, Billy."

At this point, Zordon entered the conversation. **"Rangers, while I do not know the details of the young man's personal life, I can tell you that the world of which Billy speaks is very, very real. There is no one 'true universe', instead there is an infinite number of parallel worlds. However, groups of similar universes are usually clustered together in 'multiverses'. For example, all worlds with a team of Power Rangers are part of a single multiverse, which in turn has its own larger parallel multiverse, where the Power Rangers have counterparts known as the Super Sentai. Not far from these two are another multiverse, in which there is often only one champion of justice per world, the Kamen Rider."**

"**Furthermore, multiverses which are similar enough tend to group into larger clusters, called 'megaverses'. Ours, for instance, includes the multiverses of the Kamen Riders, the Super Sentai, and the Power Rangers, alongside numerous others, such as the Ultramen. For any given megaverse, all worlds within it will have some basic trait or characteristic in common with each other. And beyond the megaverses, there is finally the Omniverse, which includes every possible reality that ever has been and ever will be."**

"**The boy, Shinji Ikari, is from a megaverse not too distant from our own – instead of transforming warriors as in our megaverse, the champions of good and evil in that megaverse are either entities of truly gargantuan size and an utterly alien perception, or are humanoids who pilot equally massive mechanized constructs to defend against them. While the universe Shinji hails from is near the edge of my perception, I have observed enough of it to see that it is truly, to use Rocky's phrase, a world gone wrong. Other-dimensional creatures, known to that version of mankind as Angels, wreak chaos on Earth, and yet the humanity of that world has, due to a catastrophe in the year 2000 of that world, been utterly broken. Hope, love, trust, and friendship, which are common enough that many in our megaverse take them for granted… have largely been lost to the remnants of that world."**

Shuddering at the thought of a world as horrifying as what Zordon had described, Tommy eventually asked, "So we know that he's really from another world, but the question is, how did he get _here_, and why? Given that his world doesn't seem to be much more than twenty years ahead of ours, and we haven't even sent humans past the _moon_, how did this Shinji kid travel to an entirely different megaverse?"

"**After observing the battles in the Angel War from afar, I believe it would be more accurate to say that he was thrown here. A few weeks ago, the twelfth Angel to appear in that world arrived, and I was able to observe the battle…"**

Everyone noticed the hesitation, and Adam asked, "What happened?"

"**The Angel in question appeared to be a living shadow of some sort… the boy's machine was consumed whole, with the pilot trapped inside. Fifteen hours later, there was a massive energy disturbance throughout the Omniverse, and then a young man of Japanese descent was found lost in Angel Grove park."**

Barring Tommy and Adam, the Rangers collectively looked nauseous at the mental image of being eaten alive and whole by anything at all, shadow monster or not.

After a moment, Adam collected himself and asked, "No offense or anything, but why do we need to know this in the first place?"

Zordon replied, **"The disturbance in question has caused distortions in space-time throughout the Omniverse, far even beyond even my ability to perceive. While similar incidents have happened in the past, and the associated distortions have died down, it is possible that additional entities from alternate dimensions may find their way into ours. And they may not be as benevolent as the young man Billy and Kat met today."**

Tommy summarized, "So you're saying that we need to be more vigilant for a while, just in case another monster of some kind winds up here through one of the space-time-warp things?"

"**Correct, Tommy."**

Suddenly, Kat asked, "By the way, where's Alpha Five?"

"**Upgrading the computer circuitry to detect dimensional breaches."**

As Zordon had nothing left that needed to be said, and the Rangers had no further questions for the moment, the six teenagers teleported home.

Back outside Billy's house, Kat said, "Hey, is they any way that you could modify a communicator to be a two-way translator for Shinji, at least until he learns English on his own?"

Raising an eyebrow, the Blue Ranger replied, "Actually, I'd been thinking about that while we were eating dinner. I'll see what I can do about it tonight, but from what I've seen of the kid's personality so far, he'll probably be caught between gratitude and confusion."

Frowning, Kat murmured, "Yeah, I know. When I offered to play checkers with him, he actually looked a little freaked, as if he was thinking, 'Are you really offering to spend time with me? But why? I don't deserve your attention! I'm not good enough for your kindness!' Gah, it's heartbreaking to watch, and just trying to think about how he must've been raised to feel and think like that… I swear, it turns my vision _red_."

With a good-natured clap on the back, Billy said, "I hear you. Still, I imagine you'll get to spend some time with him tomorrow. … You look like a kitten with a new ball of yarn to play with. Anything you're interested in sharing, Kat…?"

Flinching out of her daydream, Kat responded, "Gah! Ah…. Am I really… _that_ bloody obvious?"

Teasing his friend a bit, Billy sagely pondered for a moment before answering. "To someone who knows you… about as obvious as the _sun_ on a clear day."

Head hanging in shame, Kat grumbled, "Grr.. stupid complex!"'

Patting his friend on the back again, Billy said, "From what I was able to gather, Shinji's about fourteen or fifteen years old, so it's only a couple of years – not enough of a difference to really make a fuss about."

"Thanks Billy, I needed that. Well, I need to head on home. See you and the others tomorrow!"

With that, Katherine Hillard waved, before jogging off towards her home, about twenty minutes away.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Shinji Ikari awoke. He could not remember his dreams, as was usual, but for the first time in years, he knew that they had been pleasant.<p>

Opening his eyes, he muttered, "Yet another unfamiliar ceiling. But... this one doesn't intimidate me. I think… I could get used to it."

Getting up, Shinji changed back into his clothes from yesterday and prepared to go downstairs and fix his host breakfast. _'It's all I'm good for. I can't let myself become useless this time. I have to find a purpose and keep it. Billy… and Kat… As much as I'd like to think that they're my friends, that they like me for being me… I just can't take the chance. They make me feel better, so I have to try all the harder to ensure that they have a use for me. I want to be wrong about them, but… everyone who ever claimed to like me was just using me for a tool, and threw me away when they no longer had a reason to keep me around. These people make me happier than I've ever been… if even __they__ threw me aside, I… don't think I'd be able to take it.'_

Raising out of bed, Shinji yawned and headed for the kitchen, intent on the making breakfast for himself and his host.

Seeing what looked a bit like a wristwatch on the counter, Shinji briefly pondered it for a moment, having observed that Billy and Kat had both been wearing similar ones the day before. Absently, he wondered who it might belong to, before immediately deciding that it wasn't his business anyway.

However, it was just as he opened the cabinet that Shinji remembered one very important thing.

He couldn't read English. Fortunately, though, this handicap was easily enough circumvented for the time being. No matter what nation/universe/whatever you were in, after all, milk was milk and cereal was cereal.

And so, Shinji made a cursory search for some bowls, using his memory of working about the kitchen the night before. _'Unless I'm utterly and completely mistaken, should be this cupboard up here. … And I was not wrong after all. That's a rare thing.'_

About the time Shinji had begun pouring into the first bowl, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. As Billy entered the kitchen, Shinji offered the first bowl and began to apologize, but was actually beaten to it.

"Oh, you're up already Shinji? Sorry I didn't have breakfast ready, then. It's the duty of a host to provide for the guest, right?"

Confused, but already beginning to adapt, Shinji nodded and poured the second bowl and then began to eat.

After a moment, Billy picked up the watch from before and showed it to Shinji, saying, "Ah, that's right. This is for you, Shinji."

"Wait, _what_?"

"Go ahead, put it on. It's actually a translator. This converts spoken audio of one language and converts it into a different language. Right now, it's set to convert English into Japanese. Took half an hour of tinkering, but I actually had the insight needed to finish it last night. Before, it could only convert incoming audio, but this complete model is two-way. Have you even noticed that I switched to speaking English?"

In the middle of Billy's talking, Shinji had indeed put on the wrist-worn device, but had been able to perfectly understand his friend the entire time.

Confused, Shinji asked, "Wait a second, why are you giving me this?"

Smiling, Billy replied, "Because you have the most need for it. Now then, I'd like to introduce you to some friends of mine, if you're feeling up to it."

To Shinji, a person accepting him was one thing. But that person thinking highly enough of him not only to consider Shinji a friend, but to want to introduce him to his _other_ friends as well? Shinji's mind _reeled_.

_Wha -? But… Just because you and Kat were nice doesn't mean that the others will be. To me, at least. Heck, I've already had more good luck in the past twelve hours than I've had in the past twelve _years_. It's bound to run out sooner or later, right? Still, it's not like I can refuse him. Let me stay in his house, then gave me this translator so I can easily communicate with people…_

At this, Shinji laughed bitterly in his mind. Nobody had ever understood him even _without_ a language barrier. While he'd told Billy a fair bit about his world, he hadn't shared a thing about his own personal life.

Not that anyone could ever possibly be interested.

Little did he know that his life was about to get turned upside-down.

Again.

* * *

><p><strong>A meeting of heroes from across time and space! A mysterious creature appears!<strong>

**A glorious battle! And the bond between souls become stronger than ever!**

**Please, expect a lot from the next chapter of SPIRIT OF A RANGER! Chapter Four: A Fearful Resolution!***

*** Chapter title subject to change.**


	4. Angel Attack

**Spirit of a Ranger**

**Rating: T for now, may raise to M later.**

**Pairing: Shinji/Kat, other stuff in the background.**

**Note: A few hours have passed between the start of this chapter and the end of the last one.**

* * *

><p>Shinji Ikari was walking a bit behind his new friend, Billy Cranston, on their way to the Angel Grove youth center.<p>

And Shinji was completely and utterly terrified, even moreso than when he had first lain eyes on Eva Unit-01.

Oh, he'd had friends before. Of a sort. Well, kind of. … Okay, it was more accurate to say that Toji and Kensuke used him as an excuse to ogle his guardian, Misato, but they had otherwise put up with him _spectacularly_.

Shaking himself back to the present, he heard his name spoken, and looked up to see Billy facing him over his shoulder. The older teen smiled and said, "Walk with your head held high, Shinji. You know, there was a time when I didn't have much confidence either. But eventually, I started to grow out of it with help from my friends. All you need to do is to have some faith in yourself."

Shinji nodded, but didn't reply. _How could _anyone_ have faith in _me _of all people, let alone myself? I'm worthless… and because of that, everyone around me suffers. Toji's sister almost got crushed, then I almost crushed him and Kensuke a few days after that… then Rei almost got vaporized protecting me because I wasn't good enough to kill the Angel with one shot… I'm the very bane of Asuka's existence… and let's not forget that the reason I'm even here in the first place is that I was useless enough to let an Angel _eat_ me…_

Nevertheless, Shinji continued following his friend until they got to the Angel Grove Youth Center, where they encountered four teenagers that he hadn't met yet. "Shinji, these are some friends of mine. I'd like you to meet Rocky, Adam, Aisha, and Tommy."

As the four nodded, gave a welcoming smile, and shook Shinji's hand, the Third Child noted that they were each wearing a different color – Tommy in white, Adam in black, Rocky in red, and Aisha in yellow. Upon reflection, he noted that Billy was similarly clad in blue. _Does everyone in Angel Grove normally wear one predominant color, or is it just these guys?_

Nervous, Shinji bowed and said, "Um… it's nice to meet you, everyone. My name is Shinji Ikari. I hope we can all get along together…"

Surprisingly, each of the group smiled kindly and shook his hands, introducing themselves in turn.

"Adam Park, pleasure to meet you."

"Rocky DeSantos, how're you doin'?"

"Name's Tommy Oliver."

"And I'm Aisha. But… I wonder where Kat is?"

At the mention of her name, Shinji's face went a light shade of red, although he was thankfully saved from embarassment by the timely arrival of that very person.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm running late! I had some errands to run and it took a bit longer than I'd planned on…"

Perky as could be, Aisha said, "That's fine, we haven't been here more than a minute or two ourselves!"

Kat had been looking over the group, noverbally greeting each of her friends in turn, before suddenly taking note of the Japanese young man.

With a bright smile that left Shinji awestruck, she said "Hey there Shinji, it's good to see you again. So… care to join the rest of us for lunch?"

Instinctively taking a few steps back, he had the most triumphant example of a 'deer in the headlights' expression the others had ever seen, completely stunned that not only had Billy seen fit to introduce Shinji to more of his friends, but apparently _Kat_ had _also_ been looking forward to another encounter.

_I… I don't know how to deal with this! I mean, I've never actually been invited on any kind of group get-together that wasn't for school. Okay Shinji, calm down, it's just other people being friendly… Oh, no, that's not helping me at all… um… I don't know what to do, but no matter what, I mustn't run away. … Actually, that does help a little bit. I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away…_

Un-freezing himself, he looked at the others… and upon being confronted again with his problem, Shinji's newfound confidence plummeted right back to zero. Lowering his head out of habit and turning a bit to the side, Shinji eventually managed to stammer out, "Um, well, sure, I guess I could, but I don't want to impose on anyone else or anything…."

Each of the other teens had a positive response in what seemed like no time at all.

Adam shrugged and said, "It's no problem at all with me."

Rocky grinned, "The more, the merrier!"

Aisha, who appeared to be the most energetic of the group by far, smiled as she exclaimed her assent.

Billy just shook his head a bit as he said, "I didn't ask you to come along just so to give you the boot, so of course you're welcome."

At this point, Shinji's stomach rumbled violently, turning his face as red as Rocky's shirt with embarassment.

Tommy laughed as he came over and gave Shinji a friendly clap on the back, inadvertantly causing the younger man to stumble forward half a step. "C'mon kid, let's all get some lunch."

* * *

><p><em>In the Command Center…<em>

Zordon's eyes widened as he sensed a distortion in the Morphing Grid. **"Alpha, you must contact the Rangers. There is a disturbance in the interdimensional interval – a hostile life-form from another universe are invading our world."**

"Ay-yi-yi-yi-yi! Right away, Zordon!"

* * *

><p><em>Outside the gym and juice bar…<em>

The air seemed to distort as an alien shape began to form.

It was the Third Angel, or rather a human-sized incarnation from another universe, that had arrived due to a gap in the interdimensional walls.

It could not sense the forefather, ADAM.

If the forefather was absent from this world, then it would lay waste to those that so resembled the children of Lilith before resuming the search elsewhere.

And the first targets it observed were a pair of human males – one large and rotund, the other very slim.

The adolescents stared at the Angel.

And the Angel stared at them.

Then, slowly, it raised an arm and opened its hand as a massive amount of energy built up in its palm.

* * *

><p><em><span>Inside...<span>_

Just as Rocky's watch communicator beeped, Bulk and Skull burst into the juice bar, screaming in mortal terror. "MONSTER! THERE'S A MONSTER OUTSIDE AND ITS GOING TO KILL US ALL!"

Cue a panic as everyone save Shinji, Billy, and the latter's friends rushed to leave through the emergency exits.

Shinji, a bad feeling in his gut, rose to take a look outside, and his blood froze.

'_No... nononononononono... An Angel? Here?! But-... but... but Unit-01 already beat that one! Just my luck, something starts looking up in my life and I get Angel _zombies_ coming after me.'_

Shinji was so busy having his little freak-out that he didn't notice when the other teenagers got up and used their wrist communicators.

Zordon, through the communicators, quickly briefed them on the situation. **"Rangers, the monster outside is from a parallel world to the boy's home universe – what his Earth calls an Angel. I cannot tell you much about how to fight it, but know that it will be far more ruthless and dangerous than any of Rita or Zedd's monsters to date. May the Power protect you."**

At the same time, Shinji managed to screw up some resolve. _'This... this thing being here is probably my fault – I mean, it seems like everything else is, so I guess that means I have to kill it. Again. I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away...'_

Just before Tommy could tell Shinji to run for safety, the boy grabbed a metal folding chair and yelled, "You guys go find the Power Rangers or something, I'll try and hold it off until then!"

As Shinji ran outside to do battle, he had finally managed to rid himself of fear and doubt. But only because he pushed them aside with a desperate plea not to screw up, just once.

It was so unexpected that the Rangers were shocked into paralysis for a moment, before Tommy yelled, "It's morphin' time!"

Six flashes of light later, the teenagers with attitude had vanished, and in their place stood Earth's greatest heroes - the Power Rangers.

In the few seconds it took the Rangers' morphing sequence to complete and then for them to run outside, they found that Shinji was already attacking the Angel with his metal folding chair. "Not this time," he yelled. "You're not hurting anyone here!"

Screaming with anger and emotional pain, Shinji brought down his improvised weapon on a red sphere in the Angel's chest with all of his strength, and barely cracked it.

The Angel paused for a second, and observed the damage inflicted on its soul.

If it had eyes like a human, it would have narrowed them. Whereas the Angel had, before, been taking its time destroying the false heirs of Lilith, it had now encountered an opponent that – either through luck or intuition – struck a blow that actually hurt it.

To be truthful, the actual damage inflicted was less than minor - the scratch from a kitten would be more lethal. The fact was, however, that the Angel had indeed been dealt an injury on the only part of its body that wasn't expendable.

Up to this point, the Angel had been casual in its destruction – after all, nothing these fleshlings had could penetrate its AT Field, and it could effortlessly regenerate anything except the core – but this particular cretin had denied itself the right to a painless death.

Quick as lightning, the Angel backhanded Shinji with so much force that every bone in his ribcage broke in five places on impact, and the boy was sent flying into a tree. On the one hand, Shinji was fortunate to collide side-first, meaning his back and spinal cord weren't severed. On the other hand, his right arm and shoulder were rendered totally worthless.

Shinji would've blacked out from the pain, but the Angel extended its AT Field into his mind and forced him to remain awake.

Your suffering will be absolute and without reprieve, it seemed to say.

The Angel then yanked Shinji to him with the AT Field, before then breaking his legs.

The boy had, by this point, already lost his voice screaming in agony.

Fury abiding, the Angel then gripped Shinji in its massive hand, to kill him with an energy spike through the eye.

Just before it could finish off the boy, however, the Angel was interrupted by an energy bolt in its face.

Heat rising from the barrel of his axe-cannon, the Black Ranger growled, "Drop the kid. _Now_."

The Angel considered, before throwing Shinji at the frog-empowered Ranger with all its strength.

Adam caught the boy with no trouble or injury to himself, but the sheer force with which Shinji was thrown sent the Ranger skidding back several feet.

Beneath his helmet, Adam glared at the enemy that, in its own world, was called an Angel.

Tommy cut in at that moment, contacting their mutal mentor. "Zordon, our visitor's going to die if we don't get him some help, and he's way too hurt for Earth's medical technology to save him."

"**I will have Alpha teleport him to the Command Center – with luck, our advanced medical science will be able to recover him."**

Shinji, at long last in a state of blessed unconcsiousness, disappeared in a flash of light as the teleportation system activated.

Tommy clenched his gloved fist, seething. "Not even Zedd's monsters have shown that kind of pointless brutality before..."

Then, seeming to regain his bearings, he raised his voice. "You guys ready to take this creep down a notch?"

"YEAH!"

The Power Rangers each summoned their weapons, and Earth's heroes rushed into battle.

The Angel raised its AT Field to stop the Rangers from advancing, only to stagger forward as the Pink Ranger fired dozens of energy arrows into its back.

Glaring beneath her helmet, the battling blonde yelled, "Hurt a kid like that on _our_ watch, will you?!"

Because the Angel was distracted by Kat's sneak attack, its control over the AT Field faltered, allowing the Red Ranger to dash forward and hack open its chest with his sword, while the Black Ranger immediately followed up with a strike from his axe, knocking the Angel back several feet.

Before it could regain its bearings, the Blue Ranger bisected his lance into its twin components and bludgeoned the Angel several times in rapid succession, even as the Yellow Ranger hacked its arms open with her daggers.

Once again becoming irritated, the Angel unleashed its AT Field in all directions and blasted the colorfully-clad teenagers away from it.

Instead of a wall, however, it had been used as more of a strong wind. And the instant that wind had passed, the White Ranger made his move with a flying kick to the Angel's core before backflipping off of it and tossing Saba at it, the sentient sword flying around the Angel hacking at it from all sides and occasionally firing off laser beams, before returning to Tommy's hand.

The Angel's eyes flashed, and an explosion rocked the ground beneath the Rangers' feet, sending them all flying backward.

Rushing over to check on her comrades, Kat growled, "It just regenerates everything we do to it…"

"Not _everything_," Billy observed.

Looking at the sapphire soldier in confusion, Rocky intelligently asked, "Huh?"

Tommy was the first to notice what Billy was talking about. "That red gem in the center of its chest – the kid nicked it earlier, and that didn't regenerate while we were attacking it. And then, when I did a number on that same gem just now, it's a lot more cracked.. and it's not regenerating now, either."

"You think that's its weak spot?" asked Aisha.

"Looks that way," Tommy agreed. "All right guys, let's bring 'em together!"

As one, the other five Rangers cheered, "ROGER!"

The five colored Rangers quickly combined their weapons.

"POWER AXE!"

"POWER BOW!"

"POWER LANCE!"

"POWER DAGGERS!"

"POWER SWORD!"

The Rangers' now-complete energy cannon quickly charged up a blast of energy, before colliding with the Angel's AT Field.

Orange wall and bright blast clashed for several seconds, before both exploded, cracking the Angel's core even further.

However, the backlash of energy also hit the Rangers, slamming them into the side of the Youth Center with nearly enough power to force a demorph.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Rita and Zedd were observing the battle from their lunar castle.<p>

"So what do you plan to do about that otherdimensional monster down there, Zeddy?"

The galactic overlord was furious. **"The idea that some… some NOTHING is going to destroy OUR enemies is unacceptable! **_**WE**_** will destroy those power brats, and on OUR terms!"**

Gazing down at the planet below, however, he observed that the Rangers were pretty much getting their butts kicked.

"If they'd just go ahead and use their stupid Megazord, they could stomp it to death without a problem!"

"**Indeed, but their foolish honor won't allow them to summon the Zords until their enemy has already escalated to giant size."**

Zedd seemed to be at war with himself for several seconds, before he punched a hole in his wall and came to a decision.** "Loathe as I am to give the enemy aid in any shape or form, I will **_**not**_** allow my nemeses to be defeated by anyone other than myself! Rita, we will allow the Rangers use of their Zords."**

Witch and warlock crossed their magic scepters and cast their spell, as the first family of villainy cried, **"MAKE THAT MONSTER GROW!"**

A bolt of blue lightning fell from the heavens and struck the Angel, before growing it to the size of a skyscraper.

Rocky huffed. "I was almost starting to wonder when Rita and Zedd were going to make things worse for us…"

Nevertheless, the situation had escalated beyond their ability to control on the ground.

As one, the six Rangers cried out, "WE NEED NINJAZORD POWER, NOW!"

* * *

><p><strong>I'm sorry that it's been... how long now? A year? Two years? Longer? - since the last update. I hope this was worth the wait.<strong>

**I had to re-watch **_**Evangelion**_** as research for my other fic, **_**Shinji and Super Smash Bros.**_**, and it turns out that's what got me in the mood to work on this again. 'Course, even though I was in the mood to try, this chapter still gave me a **_**lot**_** of trouble writing it, and really, it came down to whether I went ahead and posted it with this much, or spend another few months trying to work out the fight between the Mega Ninjafalconzord and the 3rd Angel along with an update of what's happening over on Earth-EVA.**

**Now then, a few continuity errors to address. I realize that in MMPR canon, the Rangers are using the Shogunzords by the time Kat replaces Kimberly, and IIRC they stopped using the Power Cannon back in season 1. When I started the fic, I hadn't seen MMPR in well over a decade, and had thought that Kat was the Pink Ranger for **_**all**_** of season 3, not just the final 10-ish episodes. I know now that's incorrect, but I've already established in-fic that there are zillions of zillions of alternate universes, so chalk these problems up to being a parallel world of the MMPR 'versal cluster. Still, I figure there probably wouldn't have been too many complaints, so I probably just wasted a paragraph on pointless rambling.**

**Reviews would be nice, but it's not like I'm, y'know, gonna beg for 'em or anything...**


	5. A Power and a Force Never Seen Before

**Spirit of a Ranger**

**A Power and a Force Never Seen Before, part 1**

**Rating: T**

**Pairing: Hrm, I wonder...**

**Hey, it's me, that-jerk-who-takes-goddamn-forever-to-update. In all honesty, it was never, ever supposed to have taken as long as it did. I totally forgot about the fic, and... a lot of things happened. In fact, this chapter was originally going to be considerably longer, but I started having trouble with a later part, so I decided to break it into two parts. Better than nothing, I hope.**

* * *

><p>Within the Mega Ninjafalconzord's cockpit, the White Ranger said, "Billy, any ideas on how to bring this thing down quickly?"<p>

The Blue Ranger was running the sensors, scanning the enemy for further information. "Its flesh isn't made up of any compounds known to human science... but based on the incoming sensor data and our prior experience, I believe that the red sphere on its chest is the monster's only significant weakness. If we can fully destroy it, the Angel will probably explode."

The Red Ranger paused, before asking, "How big an explosion are we talking about? 'Regular monster' explosion, 'wipe out all of Angel Grove' explosion, or 'blow up and take the entire world with it' explosion?"

The Black and Yellow Rangers turned in the Red Ranger's general direction, and gave him a look. Yellow asked, "Really, Rocky?"

"What? We already know we're fighting a monster from a universe that works like a giant robot show, so that's totally a fair question!"

The Blue Ranger, after running a few more calculations, eventually said, "I strongly doubt that the resulting explosion would be powerful enough to destroy the entire world, but it will likely be of higher yield than Rita's and Zedd's monsters. For safety's sake, we definitely should get it out of the city."

At that time, the Black Ranger cut in. "What about its energy barrier? Is the Mega Ninjafalconzord strong enough to punch through it?"

"I'm... honestly not sure; the creature's energy field doesn't seem to operate according to the laws of physics as we understand them. Having said that, though, my current hypothesis is that it can't use its barrier for offense and defense simultaneously."

White Ranger asked, "So it can only attack when its barrier's down?"

"It's only conjecture, but also our best working guess at this time."

The Yellow Ranger pumped her fist into the air and said, "All right then, let's give it a shot!"

* * *

><p>As Sachiel's eyes lit up, the Mega Ninjafalconzord ran forward and dealt the Angel an uppercut, causing the Angel to fire its energy blast harmlessly into the sky.<p>

Then, before Sachiel could attempt to break away, the Megazord grabbed its otherworldly opponent by the face, and then drove its fist against the Core, causing a shower of sparks to rain down on the city. However, the scarlet sphere was only lightly cracked, since Rita and Zedd's spell appeared to have healed much of the Angel's earlier damage.

In response, Sachiel swiped at the Megazord with its claws, raking them across the mecha's chest armor with a horrible screeching sound, again making a shower of sparks rain down on Angel Grove.

With no intention of letting the mecha regain stable footing, Sachiel unleashed another cross blast upon the Mega Ninjafalconzord, sending it flying for multiple city blocks, before it eventually fell over on its front.

The combining robot seemed to be inactive, and the citizens watching the news from the evacuation centers waited with bated breath.

* * *

><p>Shinji gradually began to wake, to the feeling that he was suspended in some type of liquid. He could feel some kind of mask around his mouth, and the pain in his broken and battered bones seemed reduced to a dull ache. He blearily tried to open his eyes, to find out where he was. All he could determine, however, was that he was in a dark room, filled with a lot of terminals that seemed covered with blinking red and yellow lights, and there was a bright blue-and-white tube to his left.<p>

Shinji then thought he saw a short little robot with a head like a flying saucer, with red lights that kept running into and past each other. Shinji thought he heard a high-pitched, lightly synthesized voice, but fell back asleep before he could begin to wonder what the little robot might have said.

* * *

><p><em>Meanwhile, in Tokyo-3...<em>

Operations Director Misato Katsuragi swore for the umpteenth time.

After the UN bombers had unleashed a full nine hundred and ninety-two N2 mines into the Twelfth Angel, it was very decidedly dead, as NERV's chief scientist Ritsuko Akagi had predicted.

Evangelion Unit-01 was then retrieved with minimal effort, and it hadn't sustained very much damage from the massive explosions, either. This, too, went according to Ritsuko's expectations.

Misato was still rather frustrated that Ritsuko had gone behind her back to Commander Ikari, callously disregarding the safety of the pilot. But that frustration had fully become anger on finding that the Evangelion's entry plug was missing its occupant. That Ritsuko had _not_ expected the Third Child to completely vanish brought Misato no satisfaction.

Despite this, Misato forced herself to act as calmly as she could. Venting her anger might have made her feel a little better, but it wouldn't accomplish anything meaningful. Worse, it would just spread her stress to her subordinates.

Until Ritsuko could figure out what had happened, Misato had no choice but to remain in her office and try to make a dent in her never-ending mountain of paperwork.

After pausing to take a long pull on her cigarette, Misato closed her eyes and let out a sigh, turning her thoughts to her other ward back at the apartment.

_For all anyone knows, he could have died and dissolved into the LCL, or something. I can't even imagine how hard Asuka must be taking this. She's trying to act like a tough girl who doesn't care, but she's blaming herself for egging Shinji on like that, for goading him into charging in recklessly like that._

At that time, the door to the office opened, and Ritsuko emerged.

Misato wasn't entirely able to keep her tone free of attitude. "_Please_ tell me you've got some good news, Rits."

The bottle blonde paused for a moment, as if to choose her words. "We're reasonably certain that Pilot Ikari survived the battle. But if my hypothesis is correct, then retrieving him is going to be a huge pain in the ass."

Lighting a cigarette of her own, Ritsuko continued, "We know that the previous Angel was something akin to a living Sea of Dirac, an entire dimension unto itself. With this in mind, it may be possible that the pilot was somehow shunted into some kind of parallel universe."

Misato was relieved to hear the possibility that Shinji might have survived, but couldn't fathom how they might get him back if he really was in another universe. "So what's your plan to get him back?"

After a few seconds of being bombarded with technobabble, Misato put up her hands in surrender. "Okay, sorry I asked. Just do what you need to do, Ritsuko. I don't consider this operation closed until we've got him back."

Adjusting her reading glasses, the doctor nodded. "Of course, Operations Director. We still need the Third Child to keep fighting, after all."

While the two adults discussed the logistics involved in recovering the EVA-01 pilot, a redheaded teenager was weeping into her pillow, repeating the same four words like a mantra: "I never wanted this, I never wanted this, I never wanted this..."

* * *

><p><strong>Again, this was originally going to be significantly longer, but I started having trouble with the second part of the battle, so I figured I'd just cut it here. But on doing that, I realized that this part was rather short, so I thought I'd show what's going on over at Earth-EVA in the meantime. ... it's still short, but it's better than it was.<br>**

**Since a good chunk of the next chapter is already written, hopefully you guys won't have to wait another year and a half for it.  
><strong>


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